Over the Bridge
by Newin
Summary: She was strong for the longest time, but even steel has its limits. T rating for suicidal thoughts.


**A/N: Life hasn't been the kindest to me as of late. I used my fandoms as an escape on the hardest of days, and this kinda just spilled out onto the keyboard. Critique is welcome, especially since I haven't actually written anything worthwhile in so long.**

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As she had for the past 6 months, she looked over the railings of the bridge, letting the wind catch her hair as she wondered how much jumping would hurt. Well, the jump wouldn't hurt, she reasoned. It was the sudden stop at the end and the frigid water that churned angrily as winter approached. She would never do it anyway. Her life wasn't bad. Sure, she wasn't happy, but she wasn't all that depressed either. She had a job, a roof over her head, food, friends, and she was getting an education in a field that she liked. Not many people had that, she thought. But still...

She peeled her eyes from the water and continued on her way, pulling her pea coat closer around her body to keep out the chilled autumn air, merging back into the foot crowd that frequented the bridge. It was like every other day. Correction, it was almost like every other day. An old blue English police box added a splash of color and seemed so out of the ordinary, but she paid it no mind. The schools art programs were getting more involved. The man standing with the box almost seemed real...

The snowstorm raged, making the bridge not only dangerous but the most miserable place in the city. She braved it though. She braved the wind and the snow with tears on her cheeks and her mind made up. It confounded her how quickly things could go so wrong in a matter of months. How quickly one could go from perfectly fine to far from it. Her walking wasn't slowed by the bracing wind. If anything, the wind carried her, pulling at her scarf, her hair and her pea coat as she walked with a purpose to her spot. She threw herself against the railing, holding on with gloved hands as sobs and chills racked her body. Through blurred vision she looked down at the angry river. The waves lapping against the pillars almost called to her, harmonizing with the wind as it sang to her a sad, sad song. Her tears leaped from her cheeks, almost instantly caught by the wind as they fell. Would the fall kill me, she thought? If the fall doesn't, the water would. The current was fierce even on a calm day.

She braced herself to step over the railing, but she stopped, more sobs escaping her throat and getting lost in the wind like her tears. She took a few calming breaths and braced herself again.

"Please don't..." came a soft voice. She whipped her head to look at the man who had spoken. It was the man with the box, the one who stood there day after day as she made her commute. He had probably seen her for months, seen her look over the railing and wonder the same thing. He was real after all. She didn't say anything. What could she say? The man walked over to her, his hands in his pockets, his leather jacket zipped up. It was a wonder he wasn't frozen already, especially with his close shaved hair and without hat or heavy outter jacket. He stopped right next to her, looking down at her with pleading blue eyes.

"I've seen you look over that railing every day for months. I'd hoped each time that you'd find the strength to walk away...why is today so different?"

She just stared up at him, almost not believing that he was really there and talking to her. She reached out her hand and touched his chest, just to make sure. She turned her eyes back up to him, dropping her hand to her side.

"I'm not as strong as you think..." she said quietly, tears still thick in her voice. The mans features softened and his voice took on the most caring tone she had heard in a good while.

"I know you're stronger than I think, especially stronger than you think." he glanced over the railing, leaning slightly to stare at the water before turning his baby blues back to her. "Whatever life has done to you to make you want to finally jump, I promise you it won't last long."

"And how do you know?" she accidentally snapped, her emotions almost as raw as her exposed skin. "You've only watched me on the bridge. You don't know my life besides this commute from work to home. You know nothing about me. How are you so sure you know how strong I am?"

The man sighed and turned to face the railing, resting his arms on it and leaning over, his eyes scanning the barely visible horizon.

"I guess I don't know you..." he said into the wind. She just stared at him, a mix of irritation and curiosity on her face.

"Then why are you talking to me? I'm just some stranger you see in passing. I'm not important in any way to you, in any way to anything..."

The mans lips curled into the smallest, yet most genuine, of smiles. He turned his attention back to her and stood up straight, facing her once more and sliding his hands into his pockets.

"Every human being is important..." he said quietly. "You may not see it, but I do, and I have. Right now you might feel like the lowest of the low, like you're worthless, but please believe me when I say that you are far from it, Hols."

"Who...who are you?" Holly asked, tears jumping to her eyes as he used a childhood nickname that only family knew. The man just smiled down at her, taking another step towards her.

"I'm the Doctor. Please, Holly, stay strong just a little longer and I promise you that you will finally see how important you really are..."

Holly's tears fell down her cheeks as she tried to hold in her sobs. The Doctor quickly gathered her in his arms and just held her as she cried into his chest. For a stranger to show such concern, to notice her struggle from just mere glances on a bridge, it had to mean something. It had to be a sign. These things, they only happened in TV shows and movies. The Doctor gently guided her away from the edge, still holding her as she cried into him. She wiped away her tears with a gloved hand, looking up at the man who saved her life. He just smiled down at her, using his thumb to clear a straggling tear from her cheek. That smile was contagious. Holly found herself really smiling for the first time in a long time up at this stranger with remarkable blue eyes.

"Thank you, Doctor..."


End file.
